Topshells of the marine phylum Mollusca are members of the gastropod family Trochidae and are best known for use of some species in the manufacture of pearl ornaments and as a seafood in the Caribbean and Central America. Since topshells are primarily algae feeders, it is not surprising that one species, Turbo pica has been reported to contain toxic tissue (2). In 1968, one or more of the inventors found the snail component from 0.5 kg of T. stenogyrus to give a 2-propanol extract which displayed strong activity (T/C at 400 mg/kg) against the murine P388 lymphocytic leukemia (in vivo) (References 3,4). In 1971 they proceeded with the 2-propanol extract from 22.7 kg of T. stenogyrus, and with separation techniques then available, isolated taurine as one of the anticancer constituents (Ref. 4). Evaluation of taurine using P388 in vivo at dos levels from 4.0 to 800 mg/kg led to T/C values that never exceeded 123 (i.e., 23% increase in median survival time). Furthermore, taurine was found inactive against the in vivo L-1210 lymphoid leukemia and human epidermoid carcinoma of the nasopharynx (KB) cell line.
Using recent bioassay and chemical separation techniques, the inventors have isolated and elucidated the structure of four specific compounds, said compounds being cancer cell growth inhibitory glycosphingolipids. Thus, the present invention involves the discovery of pure forms of certain compounds from extracts of T. stenogyrus. 